Sep 15, 2007, 14:48 GMT
- The Colorado Rockies will try to avoid falling further out of the wild card race when they continue a three-game series with the Florida Marlins tonight at Coors Field.
The Rockies will send Ubaldo Jimenez to the mound tonight. The right-hander is 0-1 over his last three starts and didn't factor into the decision of his club's 6-5 loss to the Phillies on Monday. Jimenez was solid in that outing though, getting charged with just two runs on four hits and three walks over six innings. He is 3-3 on the season with a 4.04 earned run average.
Jimenez, who will make his first career start against Florida, hasn't won since August 25 versus Washington.
Sergio Mitre will attempt to halt a seven-start winless drought (0-3) for the Marlins tonight, with Florida losing each of his last five starts. Mitre lost back-to-back games to the Reds and Phillies before getting a no-decision against Washington on September 5. He lasted just two-thirds of an inning on that day, giving up three runs and four hits.
The right-hander's losing stretch has dropped him to 5-8 on the year and he currently sports a 4.74 ERA.
Mitre will face the Rockies for the first time since April 30, 2006, and is 0-1 with a 4.91 ERA in three career starts versus Colorado.
In the opener of this set on Friday, Jeremy Hermida homered and drove in three runs as the Marlins edged the Rockies, 7-6.
Dan Uggla also had two hits and scored a run for Florida, which has won three straight. Dontrelle Willis (9-15) went 2-for-2 with an RBI and a run scored, but labored through another shaky outing on the mound, allowing five runs and seven hits with four walks and three strikeouts over six innings in the start.
Jeff Baker and Matt Holliday homered, and Jamey Carroll added three hits for the Rockies, who were coming off a split in a four-game series in Philadelphia and fell 3 1/2 games behind San Diego in the NL wild card race. The Padres beat San Francisco on Friday.
Matt Herges (1-4) absorbed the loss, yielding two runs and four hits in relief of starter Josh Fogg, who gave up four runs and five hits in five innings of work.
Colorado won two of three games against the Marlins in Miami from September 31-August 2 this season. Florida is 13-8 in the series since the start of the 2004 campaign.
© 2007 The Sports Network
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